The wayward pup that traveled to Fairfield from El Paso, Texas, before running away, will be on her way Friday back to the Lone Star State.

Pokey will actually be a surprise birthday present for one of her owners, who still thinks she is missing.

The story began last week when Jane White found the dog wandering the neighborhood on Thanksgiving Day. After putting up signs, she was contacted by the brother of the dog’s owner, Steve Murphy. Pokey had run off one night while Murphy was letting her out of the car.

White soon found out the dog had traveled from El Paso with Murphy’s sister and her two daughters, as his sister was about to start medical treatment at Stanford Hospital. She was eventually moved to a hospital in Houston, bringing her daughters with her.

Pokey and another dog, Bella, were left behind. Pokey escaped and was found by White, who immediately fell for the pooch.

White has been watching Pokey since Thanksgiving and the pair have created quite a bond. Tears were shed as the day came for Pokey to go back to Texas.

“It’s a good thing. You are going home to mama,” White said while saying her goodbyes. “I slept with her in bed last night. I knew it would be the last night.”

Murphy will accompany the dogs on the flight Friday to Houston before bringing the dogs to his two nieces. He hadn’t told the girls Pokey was found, so the surprise should be a good one. It was kind of spoiled, however, after the girls found text messages between White and their mother.

They eventually made up a story about Pokey being held by someone and they were working on getting her back.

“Pokey’s been through a lot of changes,” Murphy said. “I’ve got a crate this time. Are you kidding? It’s in the car.”

Reach Danny Bernardini at 427-6935 or [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dbernardinidr.

Pokey the dog goes home

Danny Bernardini

Danny is a newspaper man born and raised in Vacaville. He attended Chico State University and has written for the Enterprise Record and the Reporter. Covers the City of Fairfield, education and crime. A's, Warriors and Saints fan. Listener of vinyl, frequent visitor to the East Bay. Registered "decline to state" voter. Loves a good steak.

Discussion | 1 comment

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GemmaDecember 07, 2012 - 6:13 am

I'm sad that Ms White has to let Pokey go, but I'm glad that Pokey was found by Ms White, and I believe Ms White is Mr Murphy and his sister's guardian angel. I hope Pokey, as well as the humans involved, found new friends for life.
@Danny-thanks for the follow up story :-)